Top of the Tiers
by AuraWielder
Summary: What does it mean to have it all? To stand on top of the world and be the champion? To be the best character in all of Smash? What's the best part? Power? Fame? Glory? …But no. It turns out that it's a lonely life up there on top of the tiers… especially for me, Meta Knight. Some Meta Knight X Jigglypuff shipping, if you see it that way.


Top of the Tiers

Summary: What does it mean to have it all? To stand on top of the world and be the champion? To be the best character in all of Smash? What's the best part? Power? Fame? Glory? …But no. It turns out that it's a lonely life up there on top of the tiers… especially for me, Meta Knight.

* * *

My name… Well, you probably know it well. You've heard the name countless times in Brawl tournaments. My name is a name that fuels both joy and anger. A name that has been deemed 'broken'. A name that has even become banned from some tournaments. And a name that many Smashers play under. That name…

…is Meta Knight.

I stand in my room, looking at my trophies. Trophies that I had won from countless tournaments. If I were to name every single one, I'd be here for a week. I have so many that I practically have to stuff my closet to its' brim. I walk out of my closet, shutting the door behind me. From the outside perspective, I had it all. I'm the Absolute Champion of the Brawl Tournament. I have enormous amounts of fame. I had enough money to buy all of Pop Star if I wanted to.

So do I have it all?

…No. Because it's so lonely at the top.

* * *

_Flashback_

_ "And the winner of this year's tournament is… Meta Knight! …Again."_

_ Meta Knight sighed. He didn't want this trophy. He REALLY didn't want this trophy. He already had 4 just like it, and he didn't want a 5__th__ one collecting dust. Part of Meta Knight's brain told him to throw the fight during the Championship Match with Falco, but he couldn't. Meta Knight would rather die than fight without honor._

_ As he ascended from his seat to accept his 5__th__ trophy, he couldn't help but overhear the snide comments about him._

_ "Well, well. Congratulations on your 5__th__ Championship Victory in a row. Such a shocker." Falco snarked, not happy about losing._

_ Another top tier character, Diddy Kong, sighed as Meta Knight passed by him. "No matter how hard I try, I can't ever seem to beat him."_

_ He then passed by Pikachu, who was considered to be the only even matchup to Meta Knight due to his fantastic aerials, power, and agility. Even so, he still lost the semi-finals to Meta Knight, crying and visibly upset about his loss. Meta Knight couldn't help but have a pang of guilt sting him._

_ And Snake, in the tier just below Meta Knight, wasn't happy either. He didn't say much of anything, giving Meta Knight an uncomfortable glare instead._

_ Soon enough, he reached the stage. Master Hand was holding his 2013 trophy. He looked at the trophy with hatred, not wanting to accept it. He also dreaded giving his victory speech, as he was very awkward socially._

_ But he had to. He couldn't just flee. That was a coward's way out, and Meta Knight would never be known as a coward._

_ He walked up to the stage, standing on a large box to face the audience. His yellow eyes looked out into the audience. Everyone in it seemed to be giving him a glare of indifference, sadness, or hatred rather than happiness. The only exception was Jigglypuff, who was sitting with the other Pokémon characters and was genuinely happy each year for him._

_ "At least one person doesn't hate me." Meta Knight thought in his head._

_ Meta Knight cleared his throat, preparing to give his victory speech. "Umm… uhh… thank you all for attending. I'm glad you could be here to celebrate my victory."_

_ "Only because Master Hand forced us to!" Wario yelled out over the audience._

_ "I will… ignore that comment." Meta Knight said. "Anyway, as you all know, this is the last Brawl tournament. The tournament after this will be the Super Smash Bros. 4 tournament. I look forward to battling aga-"_

_ "Hopefully you won't be as broken as last time!" King Dedede hollered out. The entire audience bar Kirby and Jigglypuff shared a hearty laugh as Meta Knight stood there awkwardly, waiting for the laughter to die down._

_ "Um, uh, yeah. Heh heh. Anyway, I'm glad to announce that Nintendo is working on balancing out Super Smash Bros. 4. I'm hopeful that we'll all be on more equal footing for this next tournament."_

_ Falco then decided to come out with a rather nasty comment, extremely sour after his narrow loss. "The best way Nintendo could balance out Smash 4 is by keeping you out of it!"_

_ Despite the teasing that the entire crowd gave Meta Knight, Fox McCloud decided that comment was too far, smacking his friend upside the head._

_ Meta Knight looked at Master Hand. "Master Hand? May I… be excused?"_

_ Master Hand nodded the best that a giant floating hand could. "Certainly." he said, handing Meta Knight's trophy to him. Almost immediately, Meta Knight snatched the trophy and left the stadium, flying up to his 3__rd__ floor room._

_ End Flashback_

* * *

My morale and self-esteem has massively plummeted since then. Once upon a time, I used to be proud of my power. But now, I absolutely abhor it. I hate being on the top of the tier lists. I even feel like I cheat other Brawlers, even though I still play by the tourney rules. I never thought that I'd encounter such a situation when I entered the Brawl tournament, but here I am now.

I don't really have many friends here, to be honest. I was never really arrogant, but I was very confident about my early Brawl victories. The couple that I did have left after I kept winning tournament after tournament. Now I only have two left. Kirby, who was young and innocent, didn't care about my constant victories, and he still loves me like a child would love his father.

And surprisingly… Jigglypuff didn't care about my constant victories, being the only other character to stay friends with me.

Sometimes, I ask myself. Will I even be in the SSB4 tournament? My other Pop Star competitors, Kirby and King Dedede, have already been announced. Could I be excluded because I was so 'broken'? Will I never participate again?

I was brought out of my thoughts as I heard a knock on my door.

"Who… who is it?" I asked.

"Meta Knight? May I come in?"

I sigh. "You can come in, Jigglypuff."

She walked in with a happy smile on her face, which immediately turned to concern as she saw me.

"Meta Knight? Are you OK?"

I pause for a bit before answering. "Yeah, Jigglypuff. I'm… I'm fine."

Jigglypuff looked at me, not fooled in the slightest. "I'm not dense, Meta Knight. You're upset, aren't you?"

I sigh. "You read me like a glove."

"Why don't you talk about it with me?" she offered.

"…I suppose." I tell her, after hesitating. We crawled up onto my bed, both of us sitting comfortably.

"So, let's talk. I think I know what's got you down." Jigglypuff said to him.

"It's just… I know that I'm good. I know that I have great battle skills. But it's just… I never thought that I could be TOO good. I mean… do you know how many 'broken' comments I've received? I've received so much hatred from other competitors. Am I 'broken' enough to not make in back into Smash 4?"

"I'm not surprised. I had those same kinds of comments back in the Melee Tournament. I was deemed too powerful, so I was nerfed for the Brawl Tournament."

"I remember you being nerfed when I came in. But your nerfs were really extreme. You went from being one of the best characters in the Melee Tournament to one of the worst in the Brawl Tournament."

Jigglypuff nodded. "That is true. I've been here ever since the Smash Tournaments began. I've had my own ups and downs. In the original tournament, I was rather mediocre, I will admit. I got a lot stronger in Melee, enough to be considered Top Tier. When Mewtwo found out that I was among the best and he was considered among the worst, he… didn't take it well. The mansion got badly wrecked that day. But when the Brawl Tournament came around, I was deemed too powerful. I understand being nerfed, but as you said, my nerfs ended up being so extreme that I was among the worst characters in Brawl."

"Aren't you worried that you'll get kicked out of the tournaments?" I asked her. "Ever since the Brawl Tournament when Mewtwo left, you received a lot of hatred for being 'irrelevant' and being among the weakest characters in Brawl. A lot of people want you out, even though you're one of the original 12."

"Meta Knight…" Jigglypuff smiled. "Whatever happens to me, I'll be ready for it. I don't think I'll be cut from Smash 4, but if I do, then it just happens. Pokémon is a very big franchise, and new representatives are needed all the time. Greninja just got in, after all. But you… I know you're not getting cut."

"What makes you so confident about that?" I wondered.

"The creator of the Super Smash Bros. series is the same creator as your Kirby series. Despite all of the controversy you cause in tournaments, the fact is, you're still a massively popular character. I mean, you're Meta Knight! With the cool Galaxia Sword, and the cape, and being so good and everything! My point is, you have people who hate you, but you have too many fans to be cut out! Do you really think that you would be cut out just because you're too strong?"

"Well…" I mutter nervously.

"That didn't stop Pikachu from coming into the Melee Tournament, and it didn't stop Fox from coming into the Brawl Tournament. And you're one of Sakurai's direct creations. Why would that stop you?" Jigglypuff said to me.

"…I …I suppose you're right, Jigglypuff. But I'm still worried. This probably sounds insanely stupid, but… if I come back in the SSB4 Tournament, I… I don't want to be this powerful. Winning means nothing to me if the opponent isn't a challenge. And it mostly certainly doesn't mean anything to me if we're not on equal footing. Because all of my victories… they've felt so hollow."

"I can understand that. I've had the same feeling sometimes during the Melee Tournament… tell you what."

"What?"

"Why don't we go over to Master Hand's office and talk to him? After all, he's seriously working hard to balance this next tournament better than the Brawl one. I'm sure that if we talk to him, he'll accept your request to be weakened a bit for the fourth Tournament."

"Wouldn't Master Hand be kinda… weirded out by such a question?"

Jigglypuff shook her head. "No. He wouldn't. Even when the original tournament ended, Pikachu went to ask Master Hand to not make him as over-powered when the Melee Tournament came around. I'm sure he'll listen to you."

She hopped off of the bed, walking over to the door. I smiled a bit, feeling better about myself. I hop off too, walking over to her.

"Jigglypuff? There's something I want to say." I confess.

"What is it?"

"…Thank you."

* * *

The End

* * *

_Super Smash Bros. © Nintendo / Masahiro Sakurai_

Well, there you have it! My first SSB fanfic. I wanted to deconstruct the entire idea of 'tier lists' and how Meta Knight, a very honorable and noble knight, would feel about being such a 'broken' and 'overpowered' character.

…I think I'm starting to like Meta Knight X Jigglypuff shipping, too.

Anyway, as always, read and review!


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